In celebration of Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice’s new book Unseen Jungle: The Microbes that Secretly Control Our World, I wanted to pull together some of our favorite activities and books related to microbes that we enjoy as a family!

1. Read a new book! First up is the new book, Unseen Jungle (release date 5/2/2023) which has beautiful language and storytelling by Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice accompanied by fun, bright illustrations by Rob Wilson. It includes interviews with scientists, lots of really handy definitions and more than enough stories about creepy-crawlies (and the microscopic creatures they grow within them) to keep you very popular at the dinner table… or at least with lots of surprising stories to share! Even after taking my share of entomology and microbiology classes (and working in labs for a decade) I still learned some new things. So if you’re looking to learn more about what’s going on, microbially, within, on and around us — this is a great book! My daughters are 7 and 9 and both love it!
2. Sourdough Bread. As a family we bake sourdough bread once a week and have a constant discussion about the yeast and bacteria that make it all possible! We see the evidence of their presence and work with the bubbles and the rise in the bread and starter after we feed it. This project was one that I worked on and if you are interested in learning with sourdough, consider the Sourdough for Science citizen science project — found here! We even toured a local flour mill to learn about the flour we use and how the different varieties of wheat can be used for bread, beer, or both!
3. Say Cheese! Science Friday has a very cool activity on how to make cheese — another microbe rich food that can be enjoyed as a family!
4. Kombucha tasting. Sometimes it’s fun to try a totally new flavor of kombucha and learn about how it’s made! There’s microbes involved in this one, in the form of the SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) which ferments the sweetened tea to make the sour, effervescent drink we like to enjoy. The SCOBY is made from yeast, lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria. So cool!

I was able to interview Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice on an Instagram Live on May 5, 2023 (watch it here!), and here is a transcript of our chat (edited for clarity and brevity):

Both: Yay! We did it!

Lea Shell: Let’s jump right in! I’m Lea Shell and it’s good to see you Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice.

Eleanor Spider Rice: Hello!

LS: We wanted to chat today because your book Unseen Jungle came out this week and it is absolutely a favorite in our house. My daughters are sitting over here and I kept being like, “Can you bring the book downstairs so we can read it?” It’s called Unseen Jungle: The microbes that secretly control our world written by you and illustrated by Rob Wilson. It’s published by MITKids Press and Candlewick Press and you can find it at your local, independent bookstore and Amazon.com or request it for your library, whatever is your preference! So I was totally stalking your book online this week and I noticed that it was released and debuted at number one for biology books for kids.

ESR: That’s the broadest category yet!

LS: That’s really exciting, and it’s still up there, it’s climbing! And it’s one of the top new releases on Amazon for Science, Nature and How it works, which is basically the category for all children’s nonfiction that isn’t a super specific topic.

ESR: That’s thrilling! Thank you for looking!

LS: It’s breaking news! It’s really exciting. We’ve been here on instagram for ten years and a lot of our friends that are joining us have been with us for that long and now have their second plane kids, so their kids who are 6-12 who are interested in this topic, so I thought it would be great to talk to you here. So let’s just jump into some questions.

ESR: Lay it on me! I’m ready.

LS: Your previous books are about ants; what drew you to microbes?

ESR: I didn’t care about microbes at all, Lea. I didn’t even know what microbes were before I wrote this book. But a group of researchers at Iowa State, NC State and the University of Arizona got a National Science Foundation grant and they study these mind controlling microbes called Cardinium and they asked if I would write about this microbe for children. It was during COVID and I didn’t have a lot going on so I said “Sure!” and then after I started writing about it I realized microbes are amazing! They’re everywhere — and they’re doing incredible stuff! So we were able to turn this story about their research into a larger book and then we sold it to Candlewick and MITKids Press. I didn’t even care about them but now I care a lot about them — and I think most of us we start, just like with insects, when we start looking at them we see evidence of them everywhere. Then your whole life just gets bigger. Your experience in the natural world gets bigger. Just sitting on your couch just gets so much better, so that’s what happened.

LS: What was the most mind-melting thing that you learned about microbes?

ESR: Mild melting… The most mind-melting thing I learned about microbes is that they literally change our behavior and influence the way that we feel. Sure, they can turn ants into zombies, and ladybugs into weirdos, but our own brains are affected by the microbes that we have in our bodies. So you can have groups of microbes in your stomach that tell you to feel calm and happy and you’ll feel calm and happy. Or they can tell your brain to feel anxious or afraid and you’ll feel anxious or afraid and it’s your microbes that are doing this. We think that we are in charge of ourselves and it’s crazy to me. They can do a lot of other things too, they can be our friends not just our overlords, but they are doing that — that was wild to me.

LS: My oldest ran down the stairs when she was reading your book and tells me, “We’re only a third human?!” Can we talk about that?

ESR: Yes! Our most conservative estimates is that 2/3 of cells are not a human cell, it’s a microbe cell. And a microbe could be any living thing that is too small for you to see so anything that’s less than half the width of a human hair is considered a microbe and that can be a bacteria, a fungus, this weird stuff called archaea, algae — all kinds of creatures. The mites on your forehead that you know a lot about that crawl across your face to find boyfriends and girlfriends at night are microbes! They’re all over us; they’re all over our skin, they’re in our digestive tracts and they’re doing amazing things. They’re our first line of defense against disease; they’re incredible.

LS: I know this is hard, but I’m asking you to choose your favorite child here, but what is your favorite microbe? Or if that’s too hard of an answer, if you could be (or be infected by) any microbe which one would it be and why?

ESR: Ok, that is hard. It’s just like with bugs and they ask you which one is your favorite. Because they all have secret superpowers. But can I have a sideways answer?

LS: (Consults with off-camera 7 and 9 year olds) I’ll allow it.

ESR: I think that the microbes that live on me and in me, my own microbial footprint is my own favorite microbes group. First of all, you get your first microbes from your mama. Even if you’ve never met your mama, you still get your microbes from her. They do diminish, but they still stay in you. And the rest of your microbes you get from the foods that you eat, the places that you’ve been, the people and animals around you that you love. So you’re accumulating this life from your own life and it’s inside of you. It’s as unique as you are. Every person has their own microbial footprint. Or fingerprint — it’s as unique as your fingerprint. It’s wonderful to me, because my microbes are from this wonderful world that I love so much and from my life that I feel really happy to have. So that’s my favorite microbe, do you have a favorite microbe?

LS: I like the one that shoots out of the ants. (laughter) I like the zombie ones.

ESR: Zombie ones are the second place ones. We have ones that can turn us into zombies too. Rabies! Rabies is a virus, and some people don’t count viruses as microbes, but rabies can turn us into zombies. Toxoplasmosis which lives in our cats’ butts also can turn humans into zombies. One in six people in the world right now are infected with Toxoplasmosis and it makes us crazy. They say that people who get into car accidents are more likely to be infected with Toxoplasmosis because it inhibits part of your fear response and so you take more risks. All from your cat’s butt.

LS: This is a good transition, because which microbe could be the best plot driver for a superhero movie or action thriller?

ESR: The question is: who is the main character of this movie? It could be a person or it could be the creature. But I think I would say roaches; the microbes that live in roaches. Here’s why: we hate roaches, right? But there really are 4500 species on the planet and only 30 of them are jerks. The rest of them are fantastic. The ones that are jerks are because they co-evolved to live with our messy selves, so it’s really our own fault, right? But the thing about the roaches that live with us is that they can eat anything. They eat poop, you name it whatever can kill us, a roach can eat it. Roaches get their microbes from their moms. Their moms first give them this stuff called Blattabacterium which is a bacteria that goes into their fat cells and helps them to make food out of the stuff that’s disgusting to us. But some roaches have microbes that help them to do things like detoxify pesticides in their bodies, so the microbes that are in roaches basically make roaches indestructible. So I think that would be great for a horror movie because they’re going to take over the world. BUT here’s the plot twist: because roaches can eat everything, things that we cannot eat, and because we have this problem with resistance to antibiotics right now we’re actually looking to roaches’ microbiomes to see if we can find new ways to heal ourselves. So there is a little bit of hero in the roach… and a little bit of villain.

LS: I feel like you should write that up and sell it.

ESR: I mean, I’m advocating for the roaches. I don’t think I’ll get very far.

LS: It’s an original idea. Looking at what’s inside of a generalist that can eat everything.

ESR: It’s looking inside of some generalists that specifically have some level of gross in their diets. There’s that too. We’re generalists, but you don’t see us running out into the yard and scarfing down some poop. Well, you don’t see me doing that, I don’t know what you do.

LS: Thank you, but no. I’m mostly vegan, so that would be an animal product.

ESR: Next question!

LS: I do have a question from a nine year old.

Athena: What are some other sources that we could use to find out more about microbes?

ESR: I am so glad that you asked that question. Because this book is mostly about mind-controlling and altering microbes, and other things can help you learn all about microbes. There are a lot of great books out there, there’s one called Microbiology: It’s a Small World by Simon Basher and Dan Green. If you’re just getting started, like for the Essential Montessori younger folks, I really liked The Army Inside You: A Children’s Guide to the Microbiome by Lindsey Garvin and Brisa Guerra it’s just about our microbiomes and it shows you what they’re doing and foods that can help you create a happy microbiome — it’s great! If you want to do experiments there’s a great book by Christine Burillo-Kirch and Tom Casteel called Microbes: Discover an Unseen World and it has 25 kid-friendly experiments in it and if you go on the Candlewick website and look for my book they have free activities and experiments that you can do that go along with the book, like word hunts and ways to spend your time at home. The main thing that you can do to learn about microbes is to look in the world around you and wonder and ask questions. That is the most important thing that you can do all day long about anything about life on earth is to wonder. I know that you do that, you’re very good at wondering. So that’s wonderful. Literally! Thank you for your question, that was a great question.

LS: Thank you for those book recommendation! The activities sound awesome– I know a lot of folks are homeschooling, too.

ESR: This is perfect for homeschooling, and all of the activities are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and for ages 7-10, so people younger and older can get something from it, too.

LS: We have one more question from my 7 year old, but we don’t know what it’s going to be.

Cora: Can mosquitoes spread human mind-controlling viruses?

ESR: Like Toxoplasmosis? No, they cannot, but they can spread lots of other viruses and other diseases including Malaria, which is a Plasmodium. Malaria can control the minds of mosquitoes; once the malaria gets into the mind of a mosquito it messes with its sense of smell and makes it think that humans are tastier. Did you see that? Isn’t that wild? Mosquitoes, man, I don’t know if I feel sorry for them or not. I don’t think I do. But they cannot transmit Toxoplasmosis, the only way you can get that is by coming in contact with it through some sort of animal or their poop from an animal that has Toxoplasmosis like your cat. Toxoplasmosis, as you know, loves cat butts. Thank you for that question, that was a great question.

LS: Ok, here’s my last question. I noticed that there is a 1 in the corner, does that mean there are more to come?

ESR: Yes! There are more to come! There’s one coming out in December about your pets and the science about the weird things that your pets do. For example, I did not know that when dogs go to the bathroom, if there are no solar flares or crazy things that are distracting them, they prefer to orient their bodies in a North-South direction. They do that because we think they can detect Earth’s electromagnetic field. One of the reasons that it helps them find their way home from thousands of miles away. So every chapter in that book tells the stories of things that happen in your terrarium or your pet cage or things that snuggle up with you at night. It’s about your pet’s secrets.

LS: I absolutely love that, I can’t wait! Are there any bunny stories? We have a bunny.

ESR: We do have bunnies, and their secret poops that they do in the middle of the night. Do you know that one? That’s a microbe story. Can we talk about rabbit poop? Let’s just talk about. Every day your rabbit has a special poop that’s not the rabbit poop that is different from all the other rabbit poop. Have you seen your rabbit’s special poop?

LS: Yeah! There’s one that’s more of a conglomerate.

ESR: It’s a little more poopy and they try to eat it as soon as it comes out of their butt. That is because rabbits eat food that’s not easily digested, like grasses. This poop is called a cecotrope and they eat it as quickly as it comes out of their butts because it’s their food that has been partially digested by their microbes. Otherwise they can’t get the nutrients that they needs out of their food. They’re repopulating their own microbiome and they’re getting the nutrients that the microbes have made out of their food. If you take away that special poop they will expire eventually, they’ll starve. They need that special nighttime poop.

LS: I know Pickles has his own instincts, he knows what’s going on, his own microbe story. Ok, so wrapping up, where can we find you?

ESR: My handle here on Instagram is @espicerrice and on Twitter I’m @verdanteleanor but I don’t get on Twitter too much. You can DM or email me if you need anything.

LS: Thank you for being here — it’s a big week for you! Be sure to order Unseen Jungle: The Microbes that Secretly Control our World from your local, independent bookstore or from Amazon.com.

ESR: Thank you, I’m such a huge fan of Essential Montessori.

LS: Well we’re a huge fan of you! This is so fun!

This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you. Additionally, a complimentary copy of “Unseen Jungle: The Microbes that Secretly Control Our World” was gifted to us by the author for review.